Hi, I am a 32 year old female from India with 8+ years of experience in investment banking in Mumbai with reputed global MNCs. I have already done my MBA prior to my work experience. I am looking for a functional and geographic shift by moving into marketing of high end products / services, ideally into a role overseas.

I guess the best specialisations for me would be luxury brand management or luxury hospitality.

I have gone through various posts on this web site and it seems as if a general MBA with specialised electives is a better option than specific courses. However, I have already done an MBA, although a long time back and would like to specialise in a niche.

What kind of courses can offer me a high probability of getting placed overseas and also allowing me to switch to marketing? I am fluent in English and have basic knowledge of French and Spanish.

Any guidance / experiences of career switchers like me would be greatly appreciated. I am already 32 and have a huge opportunity cost to my current job. Also, I have a family to take care off. So a career switch is not an easy choice for me although from a job satisfaction and learning perspective, I feel it is a must.

You can add a column called 'International Mobility' to the FT rankings. I think that's a good start.

I think that it would depend on where you want to end up.

The luxury sector is kind of a tricky beast. The demand is really in emerging markets like China and Brazil - and the luxury businesses (retail, hospitality, etc.) are recruiting heavily from the luxury-oriented business schools in Europe like ESSEC and IU Monaco. They're especially looking for people who already have experience in luxury firms.

That said, HEC Paris has superb stats when it comes to international mobility. They have an MBA major in luxury and a concentration in marketing. This seems like an ideal school for you.

If you're looking at schools in the US, Columbia is strong in luxury and marketing as well - but international mobility isn't as high.

In any case, the schools are going to ask, so you should have a good explanation for why you want a second MBA and not an executive MBA.

Thanks for your insight Ralph, I completely agree.

I have been in touch with ESSEC, IUM, HEC and some schools in London like LSBF to get their thoughts.

Both ESSEC and HEC feel that there will be a lot of overlap between what I have already learnt before and their course. To that extent, I may be better served doing an MSc program which is directly related to LBM and also offers internships with clients in the luxury sector. The 2 year LSBF course seems interesting as it has an embedded one year internship with a luxury corporate over and above the one year academic curriculum.

My MBA was from an Indian institute but it is already in the top 100 FT list so I don't need to necessarily add to my credentials. I just need to find a program which gives me the ability to learn more about the function I am interested in.

There is a MAFED course in SDA Bocconi. Any thoughts on how that compares with LSBF or IUM?

Are there other similar courses?

LSBF should be a last resort. MAFED is the best, after the ESSEC luxury MBA. Take look at http://www.find-mba.com/boardsearch/61/q/MAFED

Thanks for this Duncan - very helpful. What about Grenoble's MSc in Fashion in France - not the tie up with LSBF? Where would you rate that?

Also heard of the MBA at the Alma Graduate School - Please let me know your views on this.

Many thanks

Read through these threads on luxury, since the same points apply to fashion: http://www.find-mba.com/board/24603

I am very skeptical about the demand from European fashion firms for graduates with specialist MBAs in fashion. I think there are only two exceptions: NYC (FIT) and Bangladesh (NIFT). Otherwise when we see MBAs in the fashion industry they have general management MBAs from top schools (Columbia, Dehli, ESADE, FGV, Harvard, IE, Stern, Wharton)

Fashion brands need marketers, business developers, finance specialists and operations managers. There are MBAs in those roles, but they are generally not using the MBA toolkit and their salary expectations are hard to meet. I think the most effective route into fashion is with hard skills in corporate finance or operations management.

Thanks for this Duncan. As I mentioned in my earlier post, I already have an MBA from the most top rated school in India (which is globally recognised) and an 8+ years in investment banking gives me hard skills in corporate finance.

The whole purpose of studying again is to be a career switcher and change function to marketing and ideally geography too. In light of this,

1. Do you think I am better served to do a second MBA with a specialisation in marketing from any of the top schools

or

2. Do a masters program which enhances my knowledge of the function. I already have the corporate finance and other general management tools which will be amply demonstrated through my work experience

I think you are convinced I should do the former. However, I do not want to replicate what I have already learned rather get more in depth learning and experience in the function and sector I am interested in. That, along with my prior work experience and the learning I did in my MBA should give me sufficient foundation to attempt a career switch. Let me know if you still disagree - appreciate your views.

I think a lot of this depends on your tolerance for risk.

I think the most effective way for you to move is to move into an investment banking role focussed on retail, and ideally on luxury and apparel. Start to build your profile, extend your network, map the opportunities and make the transition. I don't think you need a MBA to make a transition. The easiest way to change role, industry and country is to change each one of those in turn over three job changes over, say, three or four years.

It will be very hard to change all three of role, industry and country. With the HEC, Bocconi or ESSEC MBA luxury options I think you could change two of those three. All three would be very hard. Personally, I think the ESSEC MBA is a good fit with you because it's wholly geared on luxury brand management, and it's successfully aimed at female, international students in their 30s. HEC has a big advantage with an internship. The student quality on the HEC luxury certificate will be strong but won't be so high as at ESSEC.

But it will be much easier for you to move into a finance or IB role.

Thanks - This is extremely helpful. I could take the path of doing the former and in my prior experience with UBS, I was covering retail clients in India. The thing is that the market for luxury goods is still very nascent in this country.

Additionally, I am at a stage where I would like to take a year out to study and build a new network of people and also plug the gap of international exposure, which I currently have in my profile. I am realistic that the chances that I manage to change sector, function and geography are rare. However, as you have pointed out, 2/3 is an effective start and I am ok with that.

Will do some more research on these 3 courses but I guess, from whatever you are saying, it is very clear that these programs are still better than any Msc.